TOPOGRAPHY 



STOCKTON WARD 



The ward of Stockton included in 1831 the parishes of 



BILLINGHAM 



BISHOP MIDDLEHAM 



BISHOPTON 



CRAYKE 



LOW DINSDALE 



EGGLESCLIFFE 



ELTON 



ELWICK HALL 



GREATHAM 



GRINDON 



HART 



HARTLEPOOL 



HURWORTH 



MIDDLETON ST. GEORGE 



LONG NEWTON 



NORTON 



REDMARSHALL 



SEDGEFIELD 



SOCKBURN 



STAINTON 



STOCKTON 



STRANTON 



The townships of Coatham Mundeville and Sadberge in the parish of 

 Haughton le Skerne (which is in Darlington Ward) are also part of Stockton. 

 The parish of Crayke is locally in Yorkshire, and has been united to that 

 county for all purposes since 1844.^ The townships of Girsby and Over 

 Dinsdale in Sockburn parish are in Yorkshire. 



Stockton Ward seems to have been formed late in the thirteenth or early 

 in the fourteenth century. In 1293 the bishop had only three wards in the 

 liberty of Durham,^ and it has been pointed out elsewhere that these were 

 probably Darlington, Chester and Easington.^ In 1303 the four coroners 

 of the bishop are mentioned.* If, as seems probable, one of these belonged 

 to the wapentake of Sadberge, Stockton Ward was not then provided with 

 its principal officer. In 1308 the 'quarter' of Stockton appears in the 

 accounts of the bishopric,^ and in January 1343-4 an inquiry took place 

 before the coroner of the ward of Stockton.^ At that date the ward included 

 the parishes of Bishop Middleham, Billingham, Bishopton,' Grindon, Norton, 

 Redmarshall, Sedgefield, Sockburn and Stockton. The remaining parishes, 

 lying in two blocks, one in the north-east and the other in the south-west of 

 the modern ward, belonged to the wapentake of Sadberge, which till 1189 

 was part of the county of Northumberland. ^ The wapentake included 

 the parishes of Hart, Hartlepool, Greatham,^ Stranton, Elwick Hall, Stainton, 



1 Stat. 7 & 8 Vict. cap. 61. 



2 Plac. de Quo JVarr. (Rec. Com.), 604. 



' Spearman {Inquiry into the State of the County Palatine, 48) states this as a fact. 



* Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 558-9. 



* Boldon Bk. (Surt. Soc), App. p. x.xvi. 



" Reg. Palat. Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 370. 



' The township of Nevvbiggin in Bishopton belonged to Sadberge. 



8 Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), 395 ; Northumb. Assize R. (Surt. Soc), 354. 



* Except the township of Claxton (q.v.). 



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